Complete Works of Charles W. Chesnutt by Charles W. Chesnutt

Author:Charles W. Chesnutt [Chesnutt, Charles W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Delphi Main Series
Publisher: Delphi Classics
Published: 2021-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

On leaving Miss Laura, the colonel went round to the office of Squire Reddick, the justice of the peace, to inquire into the matter of Bud Johnson. The justice was out of town, his clerk said, but would be in his office at nine in the morning, at which time the colonel could speak to him about Johnson’s fine.

The next morning was bright and clear, and cool enough to be bracing. The colonel, alive with pleasant thoughts, rose early and after a cold bath, and a leisurely breakfast, walked over to the mill site, where the men were already at work. Having looked the work over and given certain directions, he glanced at his watch, and finding it near nine, set out for the justice’s office in time to reach it by the appointed hour. Squire Reddick was at his desk, upon which his feet rested, while he read a newspaper. He looked up with an air of surprise as the colonel entered.

“Why, good mornin’, Colonel French,” he said genially. “I kind of expected you a while ago; the clerk said you might be around. But you didn’ come, so I supposed you’d changed yo’ mind.”

“The clerk said that you would be here at nine,” replied the colonel; “it is only just nine.”

“Did he? Well, now, that’s too bad! I do generally git around about nine, but I was earlier this mornin’ and as everybody was here, we started in a little sooner than usual. You wanted to see me about Bud Johnson?”

“Yes, I wish to pay his fine and give him work.”

“Well, that’s too bad; but you weren’t here, and Mr. Turner was, and he bought his time again for Mr. Fetters. I’m sorry, you know, but first come, first served.”

The colonel was seriously annoyed. He did not like to believe there was a conspiracy to frustrate his good intention; but that result had been accomplished, whether by accident or design. He had failed in the first thing he had undertaken for the woman he loved and was to marry. He would see Fetters’s man, however, and come to some arrangement with him. With Fetters the hiring of the Negro was purely a commercial transaction, conditioned upon a probable profit, for the immediate payment of which, and a liberal bonus, he would doubtless relinquish his claim upon Johnson’s services.

Learning that Turner, who had acted as Fetters’s agent in the matter, had gone over to Clay Johnson’s saloon, he went to seek him there. He found him, and asked for a proposition. Turner heard him out.

“Well, Colonel French,” he replied with slightly veiled insolence, “I bought this nigger’s time for Mr. Fetters, an’ unless I’m might’ly mistaken in Mr. Fetters, no amount of money can get the nigger until he’s served his time out. He’s defied our rules and defied the law, and defied me, and assaulted one of the guards; and he ought to be made an example of. We want to keep ’im; he’s a bad nigger, an’

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